Readings:
Ezekiel 43-44
Philippians 3

Ezekiel 43-44

Ezekiel is still in Jerusalem (either literally or in a supernatural kind of way) and he has another vision like the original one he had by the river at the very beginning of his prophetic mission. He hears a sound like water rushing in from the east of the Temple Mount, so around the Mount of olives, and what he sees he likens to his vision by the river charbar. This is the spirit of God returning the the temple after he saw it symbolically leaving a few chapters ago.

Looking at this through the light of the New Testament, we can compare this to the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem through the eastern gate on Palm Sunday, and also to the events of Pentecost in Jerusalem. (see Pentecost in Sinai and Jerusalem )

Philippians 3

Paul warns them to be on the lookout for false teachers, especially the Judaizers, who preach that gentile converts must submit to the law of Moses to be saved. (This brand of Christianity actually still persists in some Protestant circles.)

And as a way of one upping these heretical false teachers, Paul gives his own bio which his credentials to show he can out Pharisee the best of them, but he doesn’t and that means they shouldn’t either.

He makes the point that he’s not currently perfectly sanctified, but that it’s a process that begins with initial salvation and works in a person throughout their life, conforming themselves to be more and more like Our Lord, until we reach the final stage of sanctification in heaven.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Ezekiel 45-46
Philippians 4